KENTUCKY HEAD COACH JOHN CALIPARI
On the difference in the game…
“We made some shots and free throws down (at) the end, and they missed a couple of shots. I told Kermit (Davis) that he has done such a wonderful job. Everybody that comes in here, you either lose or you are lucky to get out alive. They played with unbelievable energy to start the game, and my hope was that they couldn’t do it for 40 minutes. They were cutting, flying, and running. They had 10 points in transition and they weren’t breakouts, like we were all running back and their man just outran us and shot a layup. You can’t win unless you get back on defense. You cannot give them layups. I thought Nick (Richards) and EJ (Montgomery), their length kind of bothered them a little bit. But the biggest thing for us in the second half obviously, with PJ in foul trouble, and then he came out in the second half. I told him at halftime that we are throwing it to him every time.”
On Immanuel (Quickley)…
“Immanuel has been unbelievable. Plus, you know either he was going to get it, or Tyler (Herro) was going to get one of those last free throws because you know you can count on them to make them. He has been terrific. He has gotten better. His mind is slowing down. Early on, his mind just raced and he couldn’t really slow his mind down to do the things that he is capable of doing.”
On the offensive efficiency…
“It wasn’t a great defensive performance by either team to be honest. We were thinking about trapping the pick-and-roll because they were beating us so bad. That was talked about and we were like, let’s let these big guys beat us because these guards are killing us. They are scoring at will. To go on the road in this league, to win, and to have your best player out for the first half just like last game, and then to be able to win, especially against this team. This team is an NCAA Tournament team. Make no bones about it, this team is an NCAA Tournament team and they can do damage. They can beat you on the bounce, they can beat you with threes, they proved they can throw it inside against us.”
On Keldon (Johnson) and Tyler (Herro)…
“They want to do well. One of them apologized to me for something that was said and the other apologized for his play. I said I’m not worried you apologizing for play, it is about attitude. Everybody has got to grow up, and I said to him that when you are a child you act like a child, and when you are a man you leave all of those childish things behind. You are either a man or you are a child. How do you respond to this stuff? It is hard too because you are at Kentucky, and every game is someone’s Super Bowl. Every game is sold out, every game is the biggest game. If you lose a game, the world ends. And then you also have the clutter that they are hearing about how you are the best player, you should take the most shots, all this stuff that they are hearing. And they have to deal with that when they are 19-years old. Most of the time, we had four or five freshmen on the court. I told them yesterday that I respect what these guys deal with because I wouldn’t have been able to do this as a 19-year old, and then perform and play to win, and not worry about losing like they did at the end of this game. They played to win. I have a good group of kids.”
On when Reid Travis comes back…
“I don’t know yet. I am not going to count on him for Friday or Saturday, but if he says he can go and he can practice for a few days, maybe get him in a little bit to get his feet underneath him and see how he does. Maybe not. I am not afraid not to play him. This is about his health. The issue sometimes is you are okay to go, but you are just uncomfortable or a little bit afraid of it. His is not, thank God, his injury is not that one. He sprained his knee, but still, it is a scary thing.”
On starting EJ (Montgomery)…
“I thought he (Nick Richards) could guard (Grant) Williams (of Tennessee) better than EJ. That is the only reason I did it.”
On Tyler Herro’s listening…
“There are certain things we do and we drill how we are going to play. Those are the things that drive me nuts. Everything we do is with two hands. If a guy goes to grab the ball with one hand, I lose my mind. And the reason is, for five months, that is all we talk about. Every drill in everything. We are not losing the game because you are going to go after the ball or a rebound with one hand. We are not. We may lose in other ways, but it is not going to be that. Driving baseline, you pull up and shoot it unless it is a dead layup. You go up and shoot it because you are going into traffic. Every day in practice, pull up, and shoot it. I am not telling you don’t shoot it. Drive baseline, and shoot it. You aren’t getting to the rim, there is nothing there, you aren’t going to do it. You are not that kind of guy, and nobody really is. So, there are certain things that in the heat of the moment, they will revert, and the slippage goes back to high school. Like the play he tried to steal with 15 seconds to go. By trying to steal and not getting it, you gave them a three and a chance to beat us. Why did you do that? That is a high school move. You aren’t trying to steal it, we are just going to stay in front and make him take a tough shot. Those are all things that I talk about after the game and we show on tape. But let me say this, I have great kids. Every one of them from top to bottom, and we are on them. We are coaching them. If we are asking you to do something and you don’t do it, you are going to hear about it and we are going to hold you accountable. We are also going to tell you how much we love you and how proud of you we are, and all of that stuff, but we are going to hold you accountable. And that is why I said, you have got to grow up coming here. This is one where it is not easy.”
On backing off late in the year…
“The only thing I’m not being able to do as much as I like, I am not being able to empower them more offensively, so that I don’t have to lead what they are doing. We are not quite there yet. We have got a couple of weeks to figure out without call, what we run. I put new stuff in today, none of you would know it because you don’t know basketball. And they both worked, by the way. We are still tweaking and experimenting with stuff. If you go back and watch the tape, you will know what I had the players do.”
OLE MISS HEAD COACH KERMIT DAVIS
Opening statement…
“I have a ton of respect for Kentucky and Coach Cal. It was a great college atmosphere on a national stage. I couldn’t be prouder of our fan base and our students. Tonight, we set The Pavilion attendance record. In the SEC games we were up 22% in attendance, which leads the league. That’s a credit to our student body and our fans, so I thank them. It was great to see how TD (Terence Davis) played on his senior night. The only thing we didn’t do was win. He was terrific all game long. We went through a period of time where we couldn’t run the offense or get PJ Washington stopped. Those two young wings (Keldon Johnson and Tyler Herro) were fabulous, they’re really good players. It came down to us having some empty possessions. They made shots and made plays, and that’s what good teams do.”
On PJ Washington’s game…
“He got matchups on the guy we put him on. We double teamed him at times, and he just caught it on the wide post, just making post moves. We had Bruce (Stevens) in the same spots second half. They have weak side rim protection, and that’s something we don’t have right now. We’ve got to recruit that and get it in our team. He’s a good player but he only got 13. Those two wings were the ones that were playing downhill most of the games.”
“We double teamed him at times, he’s the toughest one (in the SEC). Grant Williams is one, but PJ is a little harder because he’s a little taller. He sees the floor, and they get him on that same block all the time. He’s a very mature player who doesn’t try to do things he can’t do. He stays within himself.”
On Bruce Stevens’ game…
“He had seven rebounds, only shot one bad three in the first half but he had great looks. His energy level is so much better and it’s helping us, and we just have to keep him going in that direction.”
On energy and toughness today…
“We had great energy. I thought our team played the entire game. Kentucky is just good. They’re maybe a number one seed, and that’s just who they are. They’re a tough cover. Them coming off a loss, we got a great effort from them. They came right at us, and I thought their team played well. It was a really good college game, and I’m proud of our effort.”
On Saturday’s game mentality…
“Nothing is a must win unless it’s an out game. I think these are all NCAA Tournament play-in games. Do I think we’re an NCAA Tournament team? You bet. I think everyone in our league thinks we are. If you watch us, do we pass the eye test in these games? No question about it. There’s no doubt it’s a big game for a lot of teams on the last weekend of the regular season.”
On coming up short the last few games…
“What I tried to tell our team is that, we really are about three possessions away from winning eight out of our last nine. We still have our same good things, but we have to just keep plugging away. I’m proud of our players, and I know the progress that we’ve made. The biggest thing, we’ll take off tomorrow, but is to just practice and stay positive with these guys on the floor.”
On the players fatigue down the stretch…
“They’re a physical team and put a lot of pressure on you defensively. They lead our league in defensive field goal percentage and points allowed. I thought our team hung in there pretty well. They’re an elite defensive team and that’s a credit to their coach for having those young wings to have that kind of toughness at that age.”
On KJ Buffen passing up shots late…
“We couldn’t get Blake Hinson to guard or rebound. We had a couple guys mismatch on the post and they sat off on him. He’ll make a lot of shots down the road, just right now with three minutes to go he knows that TD (Terence Davis) or Breein (Tyree) or someone else can make those, and he’ll defer it to them.”
On approach to the upcoming game Saturday…
“We’ll take tomorrow off and just go right through the process. Those guys understand it, we’ll play a really tough Missouri team. Every team is a challenge. It used to be three teams in the (NCAA) tourney, now it’ll be eight. That’s why this league is growing (in respect).”
